I posted a sign saying my Honda Jazz was for sale on the Spinneys board on a recent Thursday and by Sunday the car was gone.
The car was the biggest of the items I've been trying to unload for the past couple of weeks before my move back to Canada. Perhaps the hardest one for me to let go of, too: it's just such a darn cute little car and it was always the highlight of my day to see my wife or daughter pulling up outside the office to take me home in it.
Great sound system, too. I'm not exactly sure how loud it went, but I'd plop a CD in the player, position it to play River Deep Mountain High and crank that sucker up to 30. Ear-splitting love.
I've had some mixed success with my other goods. Sold my televisions and my CD player and amplifier. Sold my ice cream maker, my blender/food processor. And the microwave.
A woman called from Dubai, and said she wanted my LG washer/dryer. I got her to agree to Dh700. I'd originally sought Dh1,100, which was half of what I'd paid. She's getting a good deal. Her husband came by to pay a deposit. He looked around the house for 20 minutes at some of the other items for sale. When we got to the washer/dryer he took a look at it and said: "Six hundred."
"We made a deal, sir. Your wife and I agreed to 700."
He repeated his offer.
I told him I would rather sell it to someone else if he was going to break a deal. He relented. Then he said: "Give me a present."
After 20 minutes of his going through my house, touching things and demanding their price when I'd already made clear what was and wasn't for sale, I'd had enough of his pressure. "Fine. What?"
The brand-new hand mixer. Oh well.
Last week, the good folks at Takemyjunkuae.com hauled off my fridge, gas range and elliptical trainer, plus a host of smaller items to distribute to families in need. I rode my 33-year-old 10-speed bicycle over to my old building and gave it to the nightwatchman, Ali.
Once in the giving mood, it felt like I couldn't stop. Like items that accumulate over a lifetime, charity begets charity.
Take my Air Mile points. I collected these things but never redeemed them. They are not transferable to any other country but Qatar and Bahrain. When I spoke to Vincent, a customer-service representative at Air Miles, he suggested I could redeem them - today! - at Damas and get Dh14,000 worth of jewellery.
Sure. And Canada Customs would just love to know where I got it. Besides, I told Vincent, it's Ramadan. Shouldn't I be thinking of someone other than myself?
So I gave 221,000 Air Mile points to Doctors Without Borders (known by its French abbreviation, MSF). I don't know how much these charitable people will actually get, but whatever it is, it will be put to good use.
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo
Price: base / as tested: Dh382,000
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 428hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km